


A Beautiful Mother

by Aibhilin



Series: The Women of One Piece [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, a brief look into Bell-mère's life, flashfic, my characters do what they like and I'm not sure it's all that good, she took the prompt and ran away with it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:09:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23962882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aibhilin/pseuds/Aibhilin
Summary: Her hair tied back into a ponytail, she participated in a great amount of missions, not all of them easy or simple.But then again, that was life in a nutshell, no?Flashfic.
Relationships: Bell-mère & Nami & Nojiko
Series: The Women of One Piece [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726342
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17
Collections: Women! Wanted Zine: Flash Fics





	A Beautiful Mother

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of the prompt challenge from the Woman!WantedZine discord.  
> The prompt for this was: "Independence", in less than 500 words.
> 
> My characters just ran away with it XD Enjoy?

She’d been a rascal, someone not to be trusted with responsibility, before.

That was what every single person from her island thought, until she signed up to be a marine.

It was… unexpected, to say the least, and the faces on the other people’s faces alone were worth it.

Once there, on the training grounds of Marineford, she made friends, too, which was always a bonus.

Her hair tied back into a ponytail, she participated in a great amount of missions, not all of them easy or simple.

But then again, that was life in a nutshell, no?

Bell-mère has learned to deal with that, early on.

“Ever regretted joining the marines?” she asked of one of her comrades one day, a mischievous grin on her face.

“No.” she was answered in a measured tone of voice. Yet, the answer left her with a melancholic kind of feeling, disrupting what she’d thought of the marines thus far.

Not everyone had a choice, when joining, she remembered, and the shy, young blond man in front of her had reminded her that for some, different things played a role in their decision, as well.

He was the son of the Fleet Admiral, though, wasn’t he? He should’ve been more assertive. More assured of his decision. Why wasn’t he?

The thought didn’t leave her alone.

And when she was next sent to a battlefield, to fight for the marines, she wasn’t sure just what they represented to her, anymore.

A young girl, blue-haired, and with a bundle in her hands, hesitatingly stumbled through the street in front of her.

Glassy-eyed, she tremblingly went to the girl – who’d stopped, afraid, clutching the bundle closer in fear of _her_ , a _marine_ , in _uniform_ even – and let herself fall to her knees in front of the child.

Her shoulders sagged. They’d fought, for this? Killed people, for this?

Then she saw just what – or rather, who – the child was cradling in her arms and her decision was made.

No, Bell-mère didn’t have any parents to call her own. However, for two children, two babies, one barely old enough to stand, lost in the chaos, out in the world all by themselves?

She could be who she’d like to have had, when she’d been younger.

Yes, it took a village – an island – to raise a child, and she’d made good use of that already, but if she could provide them with a real adult, a guardian, to take care of them, to be there just for them?

The very next day, her resignation graced the table of her superior and she left the marines behind, choosing to use the offer of a free ride back to her home island that she’d been given early on by Garp.

( _For whenever she’d like to visit, he’d said, and told her he had business in the East Blue, too_ )

( _he didn’t look twice at her charges and it put her at ease more than any words could’ve_ )

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!
> 
> Leave a comment if you're in the mood to & have the time for it? :)


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